Frankenstein

gothic novel poster

with title

Mary Shelley was only 21 when this, her first and arguably most famous novel, was published. In it, she tells the gruesome tale of Dr. Frankenstein (his creation never actually has a name) whose ambition to create life ends in tragic, horrifying distaster. Subtitled The Modern Prometheus, it has become one of the greats of Gothic literature, so famous that Frankenstein is, a century on, still a watchword for failed ambition and shady surgical practice.
The full text of the novel is presented here in a menacing, single sheet.